STEM Faculty

Professional biography

I am Professor Emerita of Learning Technologies and Social Computing at The Open University, UK and Visiting Academic at Middlesex University, London. The focus of my research is understanding users' interactions with technology and investigating the factors that affect usability, user experience and user adoption of technology-enabled systems.

My research projects have involved investigating relationships between people and technology in online virtual worlds such as discussion forums, podcasts, blogs, wikis and social networking tools, mobile apps, digital wearable technologies, virtual reality and three-dimensional (3D) avatar-based multi-user virtual environments. 

I analyse and interpret contemporary technological developments and their implications for individuals, organisations, society, and policy.Starting from the empirically-grounded human-centred design principles of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), I have adapted theory and methods from design, educational sciences, health sciences, service quality, social psychology, and sociology to formulate the underpinning theory, methodology, and ethical considerations of my empirical research.